


Future Set In Stone

by writingwithapurpose



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: 10 years in the future, Aged-Up Character(s), Also he hates his new human body, Angst, Apocalypse, Bill Cipher Being Bill Cipher, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Demons, F/F, Gore, Gray Morality, Hinted Trauma, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Magic, Multi, Strong Language, Will add more if needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:48:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26384404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingwithapurpose/pseuds/writingwithapurpose
Summary: In 2013, there was a prophecy. The native people of Gravity Falls always believed that these ten symbols would bring out a force strong enough to defeat the dream demon, Bill Cipher.They were partly wrong.The true prophecy was never discovered by the people of Gravity Falls, only known by a few multidimensional creatures that were dedicated enough to crack it. The Axolotl had moved enough pieces into play that the prophecy would happen, all of the players are ready...all but one.Bill Cipher never believed in the prophecy but then again, he never believed his death would come in the form of two sets of twins. While he doesn't believe, it doesn't mean that someone isn't ready to manipulate his life to force him to participate...and maybe he would have been fine with that if it didn't involve having to see the same meatsacks that killed him.
Relationships: Bill Cipher & Mabel Pines, Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines, Pacifica Northwest/Mabel Pines
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the end, there was a new beginning.

There is no language on Earth that can describe death.

Some languages get close to it but it isn’t just a darkness, it isn’t a black because black is a color that humans perceive. When you die, you don’t perceive anything so death can’t be black. It can’t be anything, death is nothing. 

Bill Cipher didn’t exist, he was dead, so why could he see black?

Dying at the hands of the Pine Family, two sets of twins who seemed content in ruining his plans over and over again, wasn’t...surprising now that he thought about it. Stanford and Stanley working together? He should have predicted that when he threatened the kids. If anything was going to bring together the two men with a grudge on each other that spanned 30 years, it was going to be the two dorky 12 years old that Bill couldn’t seem to shake. 

Pinetree and Shooting Star. 

_Dipper and Mabel Pines._

The memory of those twins, one who was scared of his own shadow but who was never one to quit investigating and the other who left glitter and smiles in her wake, made Bill realize something.

He was still thinking.

He was still thinking of the Pines in this endless void he found himself in.

Death wasn’t someplace where you could think. Death was nothing but a void of emptiness...so why was he still thinking about those stupid meatsacks?

Suddenly, a voice. A light. Something that wasn’t just dark nothingness greeted Bill. It was a voice that he knew, a voice he had been expecting but had also quietly hoped wouldn’t answer his dying prayer. 

“Bill Cipher. We meet again, I see.”

Anyone else but this **BIG FRILLY KNOW IT ALL**! Part of Bill had hoped that when he had called out for the Axolotl in his last moments? Someone else would answer him. It was a last resort, remembering the favor he had been owed so long ago, before humans had even started roaming the Earth. He had never used it, the dream demon thought he would never have to. Now...here he was.

The emptiness of the room reminded him too much of the last time he was here, the stars shining a little brighter than before. They were older now, older than before. In the middle of the emptiness was the Axolotl. Bill still remembered how it looked, how it moved, how it continued to smile down on you. No matter what horrible things you did, no matter how much you insulted it, it continued to smile. That’s what pissed Bill off the most now. That smile.

“So I have to die for you to see me? Could have called? Texted? Something other than waited for me to die in dimension 6-B12. But no! You rather wait here until I...what? Become desperate and give in to your pathetic prophecy?” 

“I always knew you were going to give in, Bill. You were always going to end up here, right now in this moment. Which, is always and never. Everywhere and nowhere. Also, how would I have called you? Would you have answered?”

“You **KNOW** what I mean!” Bill felt his anger rise, as it always did whenever he was around the Axolotl. He was stuck in this space, the time and space between time and space was a fickle place to be in. He could move his eye just enough to see the Axolotl wonder around him. Bill couldn’t even move his arms and he could see in the corner of his eye, his top hat floating away. It wasn’t even supposed to do that! It was an object he created when he created his triangular form, always destined to hang over his head and it was floating away from him.

This was the only place where he couldn’t move. In the Mindscape, he was in his own domain and in the Nightmare Realm? He was a demon surrounded by other demons. Sure, in reality? He couldn’t interact with others but that could easily be changed when a human made the foolish choice to sleep.

Mortals' need for sleep was pathetic.

But here? In the time and space between time and space, the dream demon couldn’t move. It was the Axolotl's domain and it chose who could move freely about. 

“Calm...you called me, Bill Cipher. You called out my name.”

“You were supposed to do **SOMETHING**! Not let me die in the head on a useless meatsack!” Bill was furious now, his triangular form glowing red for a moment before taking an unnecessary breath. One to calm him down, seeing as he needed it. Losing his temper on the one being who could bring him back wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do.

Bill was insane, yes, but he wasn’t stupid. He enjoyed risk and thought that life was a joke and pain was part of that joke. But not when it was happening to him.

“Look, I’m prepared to put our differences aside. I’ll participate in whatever prophecy you ‘see’ in that head of yours. I won’t even complain! I just ask that you bring me back. After all, if I’m part of this prophecy of yours, that must mean that you have to bring me back! I just have some unfinished business to take care of. So deal? Here, let me move my hand and we’ll shake on it!”

The Axolotl stared at Bill, it’s unblinking eyes watching the demon and it’s smile firmly in place. Yet, Bill had the impression that they both were very annoyed with each other.

“Bill Cipher, I saved you and you still make those silly deals with me? Do you believe me to be as foolish as those humans from dimension 6-B12? You have broken every deal you have ever made by using loopholes and backways. I am not making a deal with you.”

Bill stared, his body frozen in place and his hands shaking in rage. If he could have moved, he wouldn’t care about the consequences. He would have lunged at the Axolotl and would have found a way to rid the lizard of it’s forever smile. This is probably the most restrained he has ever been before and he knew it wasn’t going to last. 

“Then...why did you bring me back?”

“You were right about one thing, Bill Cipher. The prophecy is close at hand. I sense that it is approaching and without you, it is incomplete. So yes, I do need you. Even if, after all these millennials, you still do not believe me. I do need you. So while I would have locked you in the Nightmare Realm for eternity, I have another idea. See it as a punishment for your indiscretions to dimension 6-B12.”

“...Punishm-”

Bill didn’t get to even finish his question, the Axolotl sparing him one last glance before closing its eyes. 

That’s when the pain started. It was as if his mere essence was being torn apart and reconstructed. It was a pain that Bill had never experienced before, even being in Pinetree’s body didn’t feel like this and Bill had thrown that body down stairs and stabbed it with forks. He had caused damage, enough damage that the human boy had actually needed to go to the hospital later that day. Yet this was so much worse. So much pain that he let out a scream, one he was sure that could be heard through the multiverse. 

One that he hoped would let the universe know that the Axolotl was a massive asshole.

* * *

“Mommy? Is the man okay?”

“Just stay close to mommy, sweetie. The ambulance is on it’s way. Just come here, now.”

Strange voices, that’s what Bill woke up to, some strange voices talking about an...ambulance? Well, he was close to a meatsack that was in trouble apparently, that’s all he knew. It was dark, not the same darkness that he saw when he was with the Axolotl but a darkness that made him want to open his eye. Which he did, after a few moments of laying...wherever he was. The first thing he saw was the damn sun and the light from it made him squint. Damn, it had never hurt that much before. Usually, it was just an odd annoyance that was always over him whenever he tried to enter reality. His eye adjusted to the light before he then processed something else.

Someone was leaning over him.

Continuing to squint his eye to look at the thing over him, he scoffed when he noticed it was just a regular human. A child really. Young, blond, with bright blue eyes and pigtails. Her expression was curious and he could see the confusion on her face. Well, that was to be expected. Not everyday you find a triangle on the ground.

“Hey, kid...can you fu-” Bill didn’t get to finish his sentence because, suddenly, it was hard to speak. He found himself coughing violently. He was sure if he had lungs, he would have coughed them up along with some vital organs. But in those few moments, feeling his body gasp for air as he coughed and curled up into himself, he realized that he wouldn’t be coughing if he didn’t have lungs.

Bill was also realizing he was curling up into himself, feeling something press against his chest. Which was odd because last time he checked, he didn’t have a chest either. A triangle body didn’t count as a chest. His eyes were red and tears were streaming down his face as he tried to breathe, trying to stop the coughing. Blurred vision processed the limbs on the ground, moving whenever Bill willed them to do so. 

Human hands.

Human legs.

Human chest.

Human-

Bill passed out again before he could process what else was seemingly human about him. The last thing he heard was the horrified scream of the little girl that had been leaning over him and the thought of terrifying a child did put his mind at ease...even if it was just a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got stuck into this fandom again and I don't know what this is! But I do have a story idea and an idea on where this is going so if you're interested...you know, stay tune! There is a bit of backstory before I actually get to the story story. But I hope you enjoy this!


	2. The Med Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a light that's too bright and a stranger in the room...Bill needs to process first where he even is.

***BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP***

“Bill.”

***BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP***

“Bill Cipher?”

***BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP***

“BILL! WAKE UP!”

And just like that, light. Sure, Bill hiss when he felt like something tore his eye open. The blinding light made his eye water and he moved to lift his hands to press cover his face. The pain from his left hand made him stop his movements. 

Pain wasn’t something dream demons really felt. Pain was a human emotion, humans needed it to know they were alive during terrible situations. Dream demons knew they weren’t alive, they merely existed without the need for human emotion. Most of them had the most basic human emotions that made them able to understand human fear, That was just necessary for the job. Pain wasn’t necessary.

So why was he feeling it?

“Finally, you’re awake. I never knew how terrible mortal hospitals were. They’re so clean and white and-”

“Can you shut up? Your voice is like nails on a chalkboard, if that chalkboard was also a record and if those nails belonged to a talkative cat.” Bill groaned, pressing his fingers to his...temples? 

Oh...yeah...the reason he had passed out in the middle of wherever he was, scaring a small blond child. He was apparently human.

_ Human… _

A stupid, insignificant, space consuming meatsack.

Even if it hurt, even if the light was making him squint, Bill found himself turning to where the voice had been coming from, only to satisfy his own morbid curiosity on who would want to wait for him at a hospital when he had been turned mortal against his will.

“...Okay, I give up. Who are you supposed to be?” Was all he asked when he processed the stranger in front of him. It was a...mortal, he was guessing. He wasn’t so sure, humans were different and he had made many deals with many humans but never ones with such bright pink hair. The mortal's eyes were also a soft gray color, a color that made him pause for a moment because that wasn’t normal either.

Pink hair, gray eyes, with a soft smile gracing her face. Because now Bill was also processing it was a girl mortal. How long had he been out that he couldn’t even process what a mortal looked like when they were standing right in front of him?

“I guess I do look different in this form...I do like it though. Mortals can be rather decorative with their bodies. Maybe...this will help you remember?” The stranger’s smile seemed to widen, her eyes brighter and her skin almost glowing in a way that reminded Bill of…

Oh... **fuck no.**

“Didn’t I insult you enough times for you to know I didn’t wanna see your frilly face ever again? That I didn’t want to be part of your stupid prophecy that doesn’t even EXIST!?” Bill felt red, which is usually what happened when he was angry, his triangular body would flash a bright red and he would grow in size. But, as he caught a glimpse of his human body that his soul was now connected to...he realized that wasn’t possible anymore. He was a mortal, which meant that he didn’t glow red, he didn’t grow...he didn’t even know what he looked like. Only that his skin seemed to be a dark tan color. 

What did humans call that? Olive? An olive color? Did that exist?

Bill wasn’t so sure but he hated it, it wasn’t black, it wasn’t like his triangular body. His flesh just wasn’t the same to the body he had occupied for millennials.

“Well...judging by the look on your face now, you’re realizing that I wasn’t going to leave you alone. Bill...I said this was a punishment.” The Axolotl sighed softly, sitting down in the chair across from the hospital bed that Bill was laying on.

Bill hadn’t even processed that part, he didn’t even realize he was in a hospital bed. He looked down to see a needle in his left hand, connecting him to some type of idiotic machine that mortals used to help them survive accidents. If mortals couldn’t survive two days without water and needed to be strapped to these machines when they were hurt, then Bill didn’t really believe they should stay alive.

“Wow...mortal bodies are so expressive. I love this. That being said, I need you alive. I need you for what’s coming. You guessed that when I pulled you from Stanley Pine’s mind before you met your demise. But I was rethinking this prophecy and I realized...it never said that you had to be a dream demon...I could put you into another form...which was fine with me. After all, this way, you aren’t as hostile as before.”

“I can be very hostile in this form, don’t you forget that. I can still do-”

Suddenly Bill stopped speaking, looking down at his hand that was supposed to be ignited with blue fire. But it was just a normal hand, no fire, no spark of magic or demon flame. He slowly looked back up at the Axolotl, who only stared at him back with that smile that made Bill want to scream.

But what good would screaming do if he couldn’t even use his magic?

“Oh yeah, that. You see, I thought that since magic had made you so power hungry the first time around...I would just take it from you? Don’t worry, I put it somewhere safe.” The Axolotl smiled as she slowly opened her palm to reveal a ring. A silver band with a blue gem in the middle, a latin inscription was written on the inside of the band, Bill had to strain his eyes to even see it.

_ Metuendas Dcemonis violentias animus. _

**The Demon Soul Within.**

“Now, there are only three people on this mortal plane that can actually unlock the magic in this ring. One of them is sitting right here in front of you, Bill Cipher. All you have to do is agree to take your rightful place in my prophecy...you’ll have to be part of it anyways but this way, you’ll be preparing and-”

“If you think that I’m just going to **BOW** to you, take part of your stupid prophecy when you **TOOK** my magic away and put me into this stupid meatsack, then you are even more **STUPID** and **USELESS** then I thought you were! Your pathetic attempt to save this dimension will fail, and that’s if I actually believed in that prophecy you told me years ago. Now give me the ring, I’ll figure it out myself. I am a dream demon who has wander multiverses for millions of years, I could unlock a ring in my sleep. Now get out.”

The Axolotl stared at Bill, unblinking, before letting out a defeated sigh. With a wave of her hand, the ring appeared on Bill’s right index finger. Bill expected to feel his magic enter his body again, and the empty feeling he had to be filled...but it didn’t. So the Axolotl really wasn’t lying. The magic was trapped in the ring. But how hard could it be to get it out?

“Well...Bill Cipher...I wish you luck.” The Axolotl whispered, getting out of her chair before slowly moving to the door. Bill was happy with that, he would rest and maybe eat one of those hospital puddings that he had once heard about from one of the mortals he made a deal with. Then he would unlock the magic from the ring and get back into his triangular form. 

_ Easy. Piece of cake. _

But then, he watched as the Axolotl walked to the door, opened it, and started to scream. “Doctors! Please! It’s my brother! He’s going into distress! **SOMEONE HELP HIM**!” 

And that was the last thing Bill heard before he felt his body start to shake, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. The Axolotl was manipulating his stupid meatsack of a body and he hated it….he’s going to have the Axolotl pay for it, if it’s the LAST THING HE DID.


	3. The Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't as easy as they should have been...either that or Bill doesn't understand that humans don't have it all that easy. Bill doesn't want to admit that possibility

So...Bill Cipher underestimated how terrible life as a human could actually be.

He was starting to realize why people became so desperate that they made deals to him for the simplest things. He once had a mortal make a deal with him so they wouldn’t have to sleep again. Bill had wondered why for only 2 seconds before accepting the deal for the mortal’s soul. Now, he was starting to realize why.

Humans need 8 hours of sleep. Maybe less, maybe more. That’s eight hours where your body needed to be stationary, which was painful. The next problem was that Bill couldn’t sleep.

He didn’t understand why he couldn’t sleep, seeing that he was a dream demon. His domain had been the Mindscape, he could easily access the Nightmare Realm.

But his human body couldn’t sleep.

He had found himself sleeping for an hour or two before being jolted awake. An hour or two wasn’t enough and Bill found himself shaking at times doing the most simplest things.

Like right now. 

The Axolotl had been...kind enough to give Bill some money. Something that he had never needed, but now was the only way he was going to stay alive. Humans were so dependent on money, but Bill had just rolled his eyes and accepted the wallet that the hospital staff had said was his. The wallet had a card and a form of ID. A driver’s license that Bill was pretty sure he was never going to need because he didn’t even have enough money in the stupid card to buy a car. And he also didn’t exactly know how to drive? Cars he had ‘driven’ before were just driven by magic. Easy. 

The Driver’s license had made him pause, seeing that his picture had been on it and he finally got to see what he looked like. The hospital didn’t have any mirrors and the reflections he saw off of windows or metals wasn't enough.

The first thing he had noticed was that he was given blonde hair, similar yellow to the yellow his triangular form had been. But there were odd streaks of blue in it, random and off. But it was the same blue his fire had once been, so that made sense. A way that his magic appeared on his mortal body. The eyes he had been given were also off. A golden color that no human should have. The gold wasn’t even dark enough to be confused for a light brown. He had two eyes, something he hated. He had only one eye for most of his existence and now having two? It felt off and the vision his mortal body possessed made him trip or feel lightheaded. 

His license had his name, Bill Cipher. It also had his height and he frowned at the 5’9 number that was there. He couldn’t even change that, not like before. No possibility of being bigger or smaller. He was a simple...meatsack.

So why couldn’t he sleep!?

Bill had found a motel room to live in that had been close to the hospital he had been dispatched from. He was apparently in Arizona. Phoenix, Arizona. The Axolotl had dumped him in  _**Arizona**!  _ That was almost more hurtful than turning him into a mortal.

The image that stared back at him in his small bathroom mirror wasn’t the same mortal that he had seen in his Driver’s License a few days ago. No, the mortal looking back at him now had deep, dark circles under his eyes. His skin, while still as tan as before, seemed to be turning a sickly pale now. His hair was a mess from how many times he had run his hands through it and how much he had pulled at it in frustration. If he didn’t know any better, he would even say that his cheeks were sunken in and his jaw was sharper, probably because he wasn’t surviving on anything but the vending machine snacks from the machine down the hall.

All in all, he looked a mess.

He didn’t look like Bill Cipher, the dream demon that had tempted and corrupted plenty of humans throughout their entire existence...but then again, that wasn’t what he was anymore. He was just Bill Cipher, a mortal that was apparently born in Houston, Texas and had wandered into Phoenix before getting hit by a car. 

The date didn’t even mean much to him because he didn’t even know what year it was. It could be 2001, 2020, 2073, 2138...anything, wouldn’t change the fact that Bill was a mortal. He couldn’t change that without giving into what the Axolotl wanted from him and he had too much pride to give into that overgrown lizard’s prophecy. He wasn’t a pawn in someone else’s game. But...he was so tired.

Bill took a breath, staring at himself in the mirror until his reflection became wonky. Until his eyes looked too large and his mouth too small and his nose seemed off. Until the reflection that was staring back at him didn’t look mortal anymore. Not that he looked like a mortal, he looked off. Like something was wrong with him and other humans didn’t like to stare at him for too long. 

He needed to stay calm. He wouldn’t give the Axolotl the satisfaction…

Breath in...Breath out…

Breath in.... _Fuck it_.

Bill couldn’t take it and the next thing he knew, his hand was curled into a fist and he slammed it into the mirror. His eyes widened initially at the pain, it was a sharp pain that shot up his arm and looking down at his hand, he could see that he had punched the mirror so hard that pieces of glass were now stuck into his skin...causing blood to drip down into white sink. 

At the sight, he blinked before he felt a laugh bubble against his lips. He was laughing because the pain was funny. It had always been funny, it had been funny when he stabbed Pinetree repeatedly with forks and dropped him down the stairs...it was also funny now watching as his mortal body bled into the white sink. He was still laughing, his eyes bright with joy and insanity, when he caught sight of the glass in the sink. Sharp shards were sitting there, stained with his blood but sharp nonetheless. He slowly grabbed a piece tightly in his hand, ignoring the pain as it cut into his skin before he looked at himself in the broken mirror.

It was enough that he could see his two golden eyes staring back at him. That was wrong...he shouldn’t have two. He shouldn’t have two. He can’t.

He was Bill Cipher, a dream demon who took the form of a perfect triangle with only one eye….not a mortal with two eyes....he could fix that though. He could fix that quickly.

He wasn’t sure what happened first, if he passed out from the blood loss or pain but he did know he went down laughing, pieces of glass still in his left hand and now a sharp shard of glass lodged into his left eye. 

That was better.


End file.
